SpaceWar.com reports: “Japan said Tuesday that two Chinese aircraft carriers had been seen operating in the Pacific for the first time as Beijing boosts its military capability in far-flung areas.

On Monday, China’s Shandong carrier and four other vessels, including a missile destroyer, sailed inside the Japanese economic waters surrounding the remote Pacific atoll of Okinotori, Tokyo’s defence ministry said.

Its fighter jets and helicopters conducted take-offs and landings there, the ministry said.

The fleet of five warships was also seen sailing on Saturday 550 kilometres (340 miles) southeast of Miyako Island near Taiwan, it added.

China’s other operational aircraft carrier Liaoning and its fleet entered Japan’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) in the Pacific over the weekend, before exiting to conduct drills involving fighter jets, Tokyo previously said.

‘This is the first time two Chinese aircraft carriers were spotted operating in the Pacific at the same time,’ a defence ministry spokesman told AFP on Tuesday…”